Tag Archives: birth certificates

Every day we receive questions from our members regarding their family history searches. We are here to help!

Here’s a genealogy question we just received.

GenealogyBank Member Question:

My grandfather Hugh Cornwell was born in Prairie Grove, AR, 4/6/1883. I have been searching for a birth record for the past 20 years with no luck. Any suggestions?

“Ask the Genealogist” Response:

Arkansas vital records do not begin until 1914.

So, while you can possibly obtain a church baptismal certificate, you won’t be able to find a government birth certificate for your grandfather.

I found your grandfather’s California death certificate, which does give his date of birth along with the family surnames of his father and mother. His death certificate is available online on the FamilySearch website at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VPW3-9Q3.

Here is a third document with genealogical information about your grandfather: his World War II draft registration card, also showing that he was born on April 6, 1883. You can view your grandfather’s military record at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V48Y-54Q.

So, while you cannot get a formal birth certificate—here are three U.S. government documents, created over the past 112 years, that give his date of birth. That should be the evidence you are looking for.

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Let’s see how we can help you make progress in your own family history research.

Signing Ceremony Permits 32 Million Alien Files to Become Permanent Records at the National Archives – A Genealogy Goldmine.

Adrienne Thomas, Acting Archivist of the United States and Gregory Smith, Associate Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will hold a joint signing ceremony between the National Archives and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the National Archives 11:30 am, Wednesday, June 3, 2009.

Their actions will designate as permanent the immigration files created on the millions of aliens residing in the United States in 1944, as well as those arriving since then. These Alien Case Files (commonly referred to as A-Files) document the famous, the infamous, the anonymous and the well-known, and are an historical and genealogical goldmine.

The new agreement authorizes the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services/Department of Homeland Security to send A-files to the National Archives when 100 years have passed since the birthdate of the subject of a file. The National Archives expects to receive the first transfer of A-files later this year, and will store the files at National Archives facilities in San Francisco and Kansas City. Researchers will be able to access the files at these two sites, or request copies of files. An index will be available to support research use.

The A-files are a key to unlocking the fascinating stories of millions of people who traveled to the United States in search of opportunity. They include information such as photographs, personal correspondence, birth certificates, health records, interview transcripts, visas, applications and other information on all non-naturalized alien residents, both legal and illegal. The files are of particular interest to the Asian American community because many A-files supplement information in Chinese Exclusion Act era case files (1882-1943) that are already housed at the National Archives.

The signing ceremony is an important first step in the preservation of the 32 million records that were originally scheduled for disposal. At the ceremony, the National Archives will have samples of the alien registration form that was used to create the A-files. The form requests detailed information revealing valuable material for researchers and family historians, such as the alien’s current name, the name that he or she used when entering the country, marital status, occupation, name and address of employer, height, weight, and date and place of birth.

The signing will take place at 11:30 am in Room 105, National Archives Building; 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.

The Duluth News Tribune (13 Jan 1918) reported that more than half of the births registered for Duluth were simply listed as “male” or “female” child. This can be a problem for genealogists today but it was also a problem for one Minnesotan in 1918 who was trying to establish he was the legal heir to a family estate.

Per the article the local health department was going to begin to routinely follow-up with parents to have them file ammended birth certificates so that the names of the children would be permanently recorded.

Newspapers regularly published birth announcements which included the names of the new child; date/place of birth; names of the parents and often the names of siblings, grandparents and other genealogical information.

In this example from the Columbus (GA) Enquirer Sun (22 Sept 1922) you can find the core information – names of the new children, their parents and the dates of birth. Note that the announcements also give the maiden names of the mother and that Porterdeat Golden Smith was named for his maternal grandfather.

Newspapers are a terrific source to get the details we need to document our families.